


Candy Hearts

by LiraelClayr007



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Candy Hearts, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Meddling TARDIS, Mostly Fluff, Valentine's Day, kind of, only a tiny bit of angst!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 23:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18291992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiraelClayr007/pseuds/LiraelClayr007
Summary: There's a mystery aboard the TARDIS. Rose finds sweet messages hidden here and there, and they are clearly for her...but what do they mean? And who hid them?





	Candy Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> It isn't really a Valentine's Day fic, just a fun idea I had watching my kids eat their candy hearts. And then I got caught up in writing other things...so I'm posting it in the end of March.
> 
> Like I said, not a Valentine's Day fic. ;)

“Doctor, what’s the date? In my timeline, I mean.”

The Doctor tilts his head, considering. “Mid-autumn. November 9. Almost November 10. Why?”

“No reason.” Rose peeks at something in her hand, gives it a confused look, then leaves the console room without another word.

* * *

Rose is reading in the library when the Doctor finds her. “What’re you up to this fine day?”

She holds up her book, rolling her eyes just a bit.

“Ah,” he says. “A book. Reading a book. Reading is good.” He sits next to her on the sofa, but before he truly settles he’s up again, pacing.

“Are you up for a bit of a ramble? I’ve found us a good place. A park. A place to park and ramble. A ramble in a park.”

Rose puts her book down. Obviously the Doctor is not going to let her have any quiet time today.

“Of course, Doctor,” she says, somehow managing to hold back her sigh. “Just let me find my boots and we can be off. Do I need a jacket?”

“Oh no, lovely weather. Brilliant. Sparkly day. Allons-y!”

Just about to stand, Rose pauses. Seeing something on the table in front of her she scoops it up and shoves it into her pocket. She eyes the Doctor suspiciously. “Doctor, have you been…”

He looks at her with wide, innocent eyes.

She shakes her head. “Never mind.”

* * *

A few hours later they’re parked on an alien planet, walking through a pink and purple forest. “The leaves on the trees don’t actually take their energy from the sun, nothing like photosynthesis. They’re carnivorous! But don’t worry, they won’t eat you. They get their nutrients from below ground. Their roots capture insects and small animals and--” he makes a slurping noise, making Rose both shudder and laugh. “So that’s why the trees have pink leaves and purple bark. No chlorophyll. Just iron and carbon and nitrogen...from blood.” He grins, as though that’s the most fascinating thing he’s ever said.

Rose changes the subject.

“Doctor, does the TARDIS ever…” She pushes her hand into her pocket, as if checking to see if something is there, then continues. “Does she ever, well, malfunction?”

The Doctor looks alarmed. “Rose, are you hurt? Did something go wrong?”

Rose jumps at his fervent response. “No! It’s nothing like that. Just something...strange.”

Visibly calmer, he says, “Well, she does sometimes do odd things. Maybe that’s where I get it from.”

Rose rolls her eyes. “Right. _You_ got it from _her_.”

“So…” says the Doctor, an expectant tone in his voice. He looks at her with a look she knows, the look that says _Let’s solve a mystery!_

“I’m gonna puzzle this one out on my own, I think. For now, at least. I’ll let you know if I need any help.”

His face falls.

She giggles, then takes his hand. “Doctor, you look like I just stole your puppy.”

“I don’t have a puppy. But you’re stealing my fun.”

“You’d think you’d eventually grow out of pouting, but apparently not.”

Affronted, he brushes imaginary dust off the front of his coat and says, “I’m quite mature. The tip-top of maturity.”

“This from the man who started a water fight in the galley yesterday,” Rose says drily.

The Doctor sighs, a drawn out and overly dramatic sigh. “You just don’t appreciate my sense of humor.”

* * *

“It’s a question of _who_ ,” Rose says aloud. She’s not sure if she’s speaking to herself, her empty bedroom, or the candy hearts she’s lined up on the edge of her vanity.

She’s been finding them all over the TARDIS for days; by her mug of tea in the galley, beside her book in the library, on the toe of her boot in the console room.

They’d started out ordinary and sweet, making her smile.

 

CUTIE

YOU ROCK

SWEET PEA

SUNSHINE

HUG ME

 

Then she’d found a few that had sayings she’d never seen before on a candy heart. These were more puzzling, though they still made her day.

 

U STOLE MY ❤️❤️

LOVELY HUMAN

LET’S FLY AWAY

RUN!

 

That last she’d taken as a reminder of their first meeting, not as the warning it would have seemed to anyone else.

But then…

 

I’M YOURS

XOXO

HUGS AND KISSES

KISS ME

KISS ME

KISS ME

 

It’s the last six she’s staring at now.

“It’s a question of who,” she says again, more firmly this time. “Because if it’s the TARDIS having a laugh, trying to start something…” The certainty fades from her voice. She’s been in love with the Doctor for ages, pretty much from the beginning. And most days she’s almost positive he feels the same way about her. But there’s times he’s just so...well... _alien_. And it’s those times she can’t figure him out.

So if it’s the TARDIS trying to push them together and she plays along, she _could_ end up with something wonderful. Or she could end up pushing him away.

But if it’s the Doctor, and he loves her too…

Her heart nearly bursts at the thought.

* * *

The Doctor bursts into the galley, wild-eyed and frantic. “Rose! The TARDIS said you needed me! She said to run!”

Covering her mouth with a hand to keep her grin from showing, Rose says, “I’m fine, Doctor, nothing’s wrong. I asked her to send you. I also told her it _wasn’t_ an emergency. Naughty ship,” she scolds, unconvincingly.

“Oh,” he says, visibly relaxing. Then, “Ooo! A biscuit!”

It’s on the counter just in front of him, a heart-shaped biscuit with yellow icing. The pink letters on it say, “SMILE.”

“Brilliant!” he says. He’s just about to pick it up when he sees something that stops him, hand paused just shy of the cookie. Giving her a confused smile he glances across at the opposite counter then back at her and says, “Another one?”

Rose only smiles mysteriously and and settles onto a nearby stool.

The Doctor claps his hands. “Do you mean it’s a treasure hunt?” His words, his posture, his face--everything about him is full of glee.

She wants to just gesture at the room and see what he does, but she can’t help herself, she giggles. “Yes, Doctor, it’s a treasure hunt. Find the biscuits.”

And just like that he’s everywhere at once, opening cupboard doors, peeking into canisters, crawling around on the floor. As if she’d hide biscuits on the floor, she knows every single one will end up in his mouth. But she lets him get on with it; his front half is completely under the table now and his bum is sticking out. It’s not a bad view. She giggles again.

Soon the counter is lined with a rainbow of hearts:

 

TOO CUTE

GREAT HAIR

LET’S HOLD HANDS

YOU HAD ME AT RUN

BETTER WITH TWO

ADVENTURE AWAITS

TO THE STARS

FOREVER

BE MINE

 

But he hasn’t found _it_ yet, the one that’s got her all jittery inside.

The biscuit itself is unremarkable, a blue heart that says “TWO IN THE TARDIS,” hidden in the oven on a small white plate. But poking out from underneath the biscuit is a folded piece of paper.

And then his frenetic motion stops, and she thinks she has never seen him so still. His back is to her, but she doesn’t need to be a mind reader to know he’s holding her note. She bites her lip and goes still herself, waiting.

 

_Doctor, I think you already know--I think you’ve always known--I’m yours if you’ll have me._

_I’ve promised you forever, and I meant it, but I’m hoping our forever can be...more. I love you, Doctor. Can you love me too?_

 

Suddenly the Doctor is standing in front of her, eyes searching hers even more intently than he’d been searching the galley only minutes before. He tucks a stray lock of her hair behind her ear, and at his touch she lets out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

“Doctor?” The single word asks every question she’s been holding in since the day he first took her hand in his own.

“Yes,” he answers, and her heart leaps.

“May I--” His voice cracks; he clears his throat and tries again. “May I kiss you, Rose Tyler?”

Her own mouth suddenly dry, she somehow manages to whisper, “Yeah.” Then, under her breath she adds, “ _She_ certainly to me me to kiss _you_ enough times.”

Startled, he pulls back. “Who?”

“The TARDIS. She was meddlin’, I guess. Tryin’ to push us together.” Pulling a handful of the candy hearts out of her pocket she shows them to the Doctor. “I’ve been findin’ these all over for about a week now.”

A flush creeps up the back of the Doctor’s neck. “Ah. Well. About that…” He runs his fingers through his hair.

The candy hearts fall to the floor. “That was _you_?”

He thrusts his hands into his pockets, shrugs, then ruffles his hair again. “You know me. The game’s afoot.” He grins, and she can’t help but grin back.

“Maybe we should just...talk,” Rose says, taking a step closer.

“Maybe,” the Doctor says, closing the gap between them even more. “But, ah, maybe...later?” His voice is hoarse, and hopeful.

She looks up at him through her lashes, suddenly breathless at his sudden closeness. “I think the talking portion of our day can wait. Just a bit.”

Their lips are only a breath apart when Rose says, “Just one question, Doctor.” Her eyes are dancing.

“Yes, Rose Tyler?”

“Will you be my Valentine?”

They laugh, foreheads pressed together. “Forever,” he says, smiling. She turns her face upward again, and when his lips find hers she begins to learn what forever truly means.

  


**Author's Note:**

> Okay, maybe it's a *little bit* of a Valentine's Day fic.
> 
> *giggles*


End file.
